Few Americans Volunteer Regularly

But more say they would if employers were more flexible

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 25) -- One in five Americans say they frequently participate in volunteer activities on behalf of community or social service organizations, but 35 percent say that they did not participate in any volunteer work in the past 12 months, according to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

In the survey, half of all people currently employed say they would be very likely to do volunteer work if their employer gave them the chance to take paid time off to pursue such activities.

But 52 percent of American workers say their employers would not allow them to take paid time off for volunteer work even if they asked. Only 14 percent say their employers actively sponsor programs which let employees to do volunteer work on company time. An additional 25 percent say that they could get paid time off for volunteer work even though their employers do not have a formal program to allow them to do so.

The survey of 1,003 adult Americans was conducted April 18-20 and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points for the entire sample.